1st all female crew
 

When I became board secretary 4 years ago, There were no female officials work in varsity games. My goal was to push our female officials to that level and now I pushed for them to be an all female crew.

I couldn't be more proud of where they are I know the future is very bright for all 3 of them. And I hope to bring in more female officials into the association.

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Selecting people for crews because of gender, race, height, lack of hair, or any other reason besides the quality of the individual's officiating is wrong.
Unfortunately, you have taken the mistaken path of fulfilling an agenda.
This type of stuff doesn't help officiating and needs to stop.

I have 40 varsity slots to fill EVERY Tuesday and Friday.

Part of what I do involves recruiting officials, identifying talent, and putting a positive spin on officiating wherever I can.

If these officials are varsity qualified, there's NO REASON you can't put them together into a crew.

I hired 3 females to work a boys varsity game this season. They all work varsity boys and girls regular season games. Did I promote the event? Yes, I did. I even went to the game, took pictures, and live tweeted it. They did great -- I have no doubt they would.

+infinity

Nonsense. It shouldn't be done at the *expense* of the officiating, but to totally discount those factors is not in the enlightened self-interest of recruiting and retaining officials, as well as enhancing credibility with participants and addressing systematic inbalances. I reject this false choice that these are mutually exclusive. Do both.

All 3 of these female officials had worked very hard, going to camps, working lower level games and getting experience. They deserve this assignment, it is the 1st time it's happened. We did promote it and we do hope to recruit other female officials into our association because of it.

I believe there was a biased against female officials in the past.

There has most definitely been bias against female officials, and where I live against black officials also.

And I'm not talking about 20-30 years ago, I'm talking about this decade. Those same folks whose jump up the minute they think a minority or female is being given an upper hand are the same folks who have been complicit or sat by silently for years/decades while minorities and females have been sh!t on.

There are matchups in my association where it's imperative to have at least one black official on the crew. Preferably two. Not saying it's right, I'm saying it's reality.

This business is full of politics regardless of whether it suits you.

Some people's brains are incapable of grasping 2 different concepts at the same time.

There are also schools where I work who complain to assignors if they get all black crews.

As for black officials, we have 2. Both work lower level games, but I can tell you from experience, they have a different ( better ) relationship with black players and black coaches.

I send all-black crews into towns where there are few black people.

Good luck complaining to me about that one. I think most people know better.

I'm sure some coaches are, deep-down, bothered with females working boys games. Another complaint I don't expect to hear.

I really am color- and gender-blind when it comes to assigning. I need officials (about 40 a night) and I really only think about whether they can handle a particular contest. I don't always get that right, but I do my best.

Frankly, I'm the exact same way about all characteristics. Short, tall, thin, heavy, doesn't matter to me, as long as people can do the job.

That is shameful, and even more shameful by assignors if those complaints are met with anything more than the disdain they deserve.

As it should be. But folks who think diversity considerations should be ignored are living in a bubble and ignoring history. As I said elsewhere on social media, there are currently state tournament officials in every state whose resumes have benefitted from the failure of females and minorities getting equal opportunities at some point in their careers.

And this is exactly why "reality" does not change and our current state of "biases" perpetuates. IMO, quite sad.

Oh, I know. And quite a few who benefit from that would be easily passed over if the process was color- or gender-blind.

Not much I can do about that.

But I have realized that being selected for these things means less to me than it used to. Being selected often has little to do with being among the best.


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It always amazes me when male officials complain about females getting a shot when those same officials raise no qualms about the fact that it is all but impossible to get hired on a men’s college staff as a woman.

Then all of a sudden when the women’s side gives preferential treatment to, you know, women, it’s some sort of major injustice.

"Now their high school and college playing days are over, but they’re still on the same stage they enjoyed as players, working five, six, sometimes even seven games a week for the local Potomac Valley Board. All three have worked girls and boys junior varsity and varsity games."

I would say they are qualified and were not hired because they are women.

While they may be qualified, nothing about that quote will tell you if they are or are not.

They have worked lower level games for 3 to 7 years and have gone to camps. They worked this game perfectly. This was a lower level Varsity assignment. Next season I have no doubt they will work ( as a crew) A mid level assignment and do it well.

As they progress, they will get better assignments both as individuals and as a crew. I would not be surprised to see them working a boys Varsity game as an all female crew and it would make me proud.

Camron, does anything in the original story tell you that there is an agenda here? I would say that is a far bigger stretch than my statement that the officials being discussed are qualified to work this game because they have years of experience.

It is great to see people advance. I personally do not have a problem getting games but I would love to see more fresh blood working games. I do my best to recruit new officials (male and female) but it is hard to get them and even harder to keep them.

I didn't read the original story. I'm just commenting on a single statement that you seem to be saying was something that verified their ability.

I have no reason to question their abilities in either direction.

I don't understand the problem you seem to have. I think they were qualified to work this game together since, you know, they work up to 7 games a week (including varsity) games already.

Why didn't you comment in response to post #2? That is stretching some things. The statement in #2 says more.

Yes, the OP directly states that he had an agenda to fulfill in making this happen.

I have no issue with qualified individuals working any contest. The problem occurs when people put other factors into selecting officials or crews as was clearly done in this case. Where TF and I disagree is that he went out of his way to have all three of them on a crew together in order to make a spectacle out of it. I would rather see them work the games and be assigned exactly as the rest of the members in the group without the extra fanfare.

I don't agree with promoting or showcasing one type of person over another in any circumstance simply because of the way that the individual was born. People who do so often think that they are helping, but they are actually hurting our society.

I think you are stretching things a bit. I read it and never thought twice that there was some "affirmative action" taking place or a spectacle. I think it is a good thing. Maybe seeing a crew of women working games will encourage other women to get into officiating. Finding officials is hard enough in some areas. Lets double the pool of prospects.

I have no doubt that there are boards who pushed young tall thin clean shaven officials to get to the varsity level.

I see that all the time period where they have the skills or not they are young, tall, thin and clean shaven.

These girls work their way up from the bottom to where they are and they will continue to advance.

Yes I wanted women working varsity level games. But they are qualified women. Part of the reason why I wanted it was because I saw female officials who were good enough but they were not given a chance. Now they have been given a chance and they have earned it.

CJP, I completely agree with you

Do I have to comment on everything? He's ultimately right. Hiring based on race, gender, etc. is simply wrong in any way, shape or form.

You're making an assumption not supportable by the statement. Working a game or games doesn't imply ability or that someone else was or was not more qualified. I've worked with several people on some level of game that were not really qualified for that game.

I'm all for making sure deserving but underrepresented demographics get adequate or even extra opportunities, but nothing in your statement relates to that.

Terrapins Fan, good work. I am sorry if I took away from your post and contributed to a distraction. Good luck bringing in more female officials. We need more new faces.

Who was hired based on race, gender, Etc in this story?

Three women were purposely put together on a crew and it was highlighted because it it never happened before. It shouldn't be 2018 and we're just now having places with all female crews. That's the real problem.

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Never said anyone was. I was asked what I thought about the idea.

If only college assignors felt the same way...

I am a female ref and started working BV games. I am fully aware of the looks and side remarks from both officials, coaches, and fans. There's nothing I can do about that except continuing to work hard on my mechanics, positioning, and digging in to the rules/case book. And there's only one person I need to worry about: my assignor.

The difference is that numbers are normally not a problem for college assigners. They have lots of candidates that want to be on their staffs, so those characteristics help them narrow it down. High school assigners don't always have that luxury (whether Rich does or not, I don't know).

Someone a couple posts ago said something about shaving. In South Carolina it is written that we are required to have no facial hair except a mustache. And in most high school areas it's an unwritten rule that few if any officials can be good enough to overcome.

Wish there was a like button!

My son is a varsity player. In his HS games and HS age club games he has had relatively few women referees over the past few years. Rare enough that I always notice at the start of the game. But if anything they have been on average better than their contemporaries. Perhaps they still have to be to get games. And I frankly think it is good for the boys to have women referees as well as men. (I'm not suggesting that women should jump the line or be promoted before they are ready, but I do think it makes sense to actively look for women candidates to be in the pool so that those women candidates can earn their way up to a varsity schedule that includes boys' games.)

I'm not a college assigner, although if I was a small college assigner I wouldn't pretend I was a D1 assigner, like so many of them seem to do today.

We're working high school basketball. My #1 concern is that the calls are correct and that officials know how to act in a school environment.

I don't care at all if "he runs funny" or "could stand to lose weight" or whatever else would be written on a college camp evaluation to eliminate people. Does the official get in position and does the official make correct calls at an acceptable level. Does the official know how to talk to coaches and therefore I don't get 5 phone calls a season about an official's demeanor/attitude/etc.

There are crews that have been to a few state tournaments that I simply will not use for a variety of reasons. Some are too demanding (I'll only work boys on Fridays) and some I don't really think are as good as they think they are based on their post-season assignments. I don't have the same agenda as the person who assigns that.

Others I've caught dumping my small school games for closer/"better" assignments. In other words, lack of integrity.

Four years of this has opened my eyes, believe me.

Here it is certainly possible to believe you are better than you are based on post-season assignments. For the coordinator (at least the current/outgoing one), assigning is much more a function of supply, location, and convenience than it is about ability. I know Rich knows this, but since this is an "everybody gets in" state, there are plenty of post-season games with which to inflate officials' egos.

They don't know what they're missing. Some of your small school games are absolutely fantastic and a lot better then some of the urban mismatches I see here in the metro area. Granted, you have your share of putrid duds, too. ;)

It's a function of "all games need to be covered."

In general, I prefer hiring those that want to be there, though, even more than someone with more talent that would rather be elsewhere.

With my season-ending knee injury, I don't need to worry about anything but assigning right now. And I have one night of games left to worry about. :D

John Deere Hats ...
 

I had one of these as a fill in a few weeks ago. Very small, rural school, fifty-five mile one way trip for me. Pickup trucks in the parking lot, and fans wearing John Deere hats, that they dutifully took off during the National Anthem. Varsity home team had only freshmen and sophomores, and a terrible record. But in this small rural town, there's nothing else to do on a Friday night, so everybody goes to the game, small gymnasium but it's packed. There was even a pep band. Lopsided game, but a great atmosphere. I wouldn't mind making this trip (my most distant school) once, or twice, a year.

Yep. I'd much rather have someone on a game that wanted to be there over a "better" official that wanted out. The latter will often just mail it in and it will hurt the game.

Ouch....sorry to hear about that. Hope you're back to full abilities soon.

Give Pennsylvania a try. Some of us have entire regular seasons like this! :cool:

Anyone take a knee??



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Since You Asked ...
 

I really don't want to get into the politics of such an act, but I did have one team do it this season. Girls varsity. Small inner city charter (magnet) school. Entire team, and coach, are African American. The players lined up along the free throw line extended, standing, holding hands, facing the flag. When the music started, they all knelt down to one knee, still holding hands, still facing the flag. Coach was standing at his bench, hand over heart. At the end of the Anthem, they all stood up and headed toward their bench for a quick huddle before the jump ball to start the game.

As a church going person who often kneels to show reverence, I was not shocked by this quiet, but impactful, demonstration. And I like to think that my Dad, who fought his way across North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, in World War II, would not be shocked either.